Batajnica
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Batajnica (Serbian Cyrillic: Батајница) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun.
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[edit] Name
Coloquially and jovially, it is nicknamed Bataja (Батаја) or Bataja Siti (Батаја Сити, i.e. Bataya City) among its citizens.
[edit] Location & geography
Batajnica is located in the Syrmia region, in the northern part of the municipality, close to the administrative border of the province of Vojvodina and it is both the northernmost and the westernmost part of the Belgrade's urban area. It is close to the Danube's right bank, but not on the river itself, due to the floodings. A small, 114 meter-high hillock separates the settlement from the river.
It is some 25 kilometers away from downtown Belgrade, but only 6 kilometers away from Nova Pazova and Novi Banovci, fast growing settlements in the Vojvodina's municipality of Stara Pazova, to which it almost makes a continuous built-up area. However, it also makes almost no urban connection to the rest of Belgrade: it extends to the southwest in the direction of Ugrinovci's neighborhood of Busije and southeast in the direction of other Zemun's neighborhoods: Zemun Polje, Galenika and Goveđi Brod.
[edit] History
Findings from the bronze age were found in the fields surrounding the outskirts of Batajnica, both south into the Syrmia proper and north, to the Danube. However, the modern settlement is much younger, probably from the 16th century, when was named after the Hungarian count Batthay, but the first tangible evidence of the settlement's existence is from the 18th century: a school from 1708, mentioning of the settlement in 1725 and 1753, when was described as a small village with 90 wealthier households. The settlement in its modern shape originates from the period of the abolition of the Military Frontier in 1873 and the settlements of the former soldiers and their families in the village. This practice was continued further, so after World War I, war veterans were also settled in Batajnica.
Batajnica was a district (srez) seat between two World Wars. After the war it became part of the Zemun district, but still as a separate municipality, and together with it part of Belgrade district in 1955, when the municipality was abolished. A movement for re-creating the old Batajnica municipality was very active in 2002, when Surčin also (and successfully) campaigned, but wasn't that much in the public media. Proposed municipality of Batajnica would split from the municipality of Zemun and comprise Batajnica and Ugrinovci (with Busije and Grmovac), with a population of 37,371 in 2002.
Even though it made no urban connection to the rest of the city, Batajnica was declared a part of the Belgrade City proper (uža teritorija grada) in the early 1970s, losing the status of the separate settlement.
[edit] Population
Batajnica experienced a constant population growth in the 20th century. A special bust to the neighborhood's population was given in the mid 1990s with a large influx of refugees from the Yugoslav Wars, especially the Oluja military action which forced almost 250,000 Serbs from Croatia into Serbia, and many of them settled at the outskirts of Belgrade.
Population of Batajnica according to the official censuses of population (until 1971 as a separate settlement, since 1981 as a neighborhood of Belgrade):
- 1921 - 2,486
- 1953 - 5,291
- 1971 - 14,567
- 1981 - 18,599
- 2002 - 30,172
2002 figure is a combined population of the local communities of Batajnica I, Batajnica II, Batajnica III, 13. Maj and Crveni Barjak.
[edit] Traffic
Batajnica is a major traffic crossroad.
[edit] Railway
Batajnica is located on the Belgrade-Novi Sad railway and a place where one line of the railway separates and through the Belgrade's part of the Syrmia crosses the Sava river at Ostružnica and continues through the southern outskirts of the Belgrade, forming an internal city's freight rail beltway.
[edit] Road
Batajnica is located on both Belgrade-Novi Sad roads: the old one (Stari Novosadski put) and the new one (Belgrade-Novi Sad highway). Two roads go parallel from Zemun (old one officially named Batajnica road or Batajnički drum) and at the very entrance into Batajnica they cross each other via a interchange. The Old Novi Sad road continues through the middle of the settlement (as the central street) and further into the Vojvodina, to Nova Pazova and Novi Sad. Two other important regional roads split from Batajnica: one to the south-west, to Ugrinovci and the other one to the north, to Novi Banovci. Batajnica is also the projected starting point of the future Belgrade beltway. Batajnica is connected to Belgrade by several bus lines of the city's public transportation: 73 (from Batajnica railway station to Blok 45), 705 (13. Maj), 706
[edit] Air transportation
A military airbase is located nearby. Batajnica Airbase, with a limited civil traffic, was heavily bombarded on a daily basis in 1999 during the NATO bombing of Serbia.
[edit] Economy and sport
Before accelerated urbanization in the second half of the XX century, Batajnica was an agricultural village. As a result of this, the first industry was connected to this: food industry, mills, brickworks, roof tiles production, etc. Later, some heavy industry began to develop (bridge construction facilities) and today almost 400 privately owned small companies, repair shops, stores, etc. exist in the neighborhood.
Batajnica is home to soccer team BSK Batajnica, who play in the 4th division (Četvrta Liga) in the Belgrade region (Beogradska Zona).
[edit] Neighborhoods
As a relatively large settlement, Batajnica developed several sub-neighborhoods of its own.
[edit] 13. Maj
Local community next to Batajnica, with a population of 663 in 2002. It is the closest to the Batajnica Airbase. It is surrounded by farms and located near the river Danube. There is one soccer club with a regual sized field and a training ground where PKB plays. Most of the population lives in buildings although there are some houses in the area. It is located right next to a military training base which used to be open to public (olympic pool, various sports fields and courts, playgrounds, etc.) Most of the population knows each other and it is a close community. From someone who lived and grew up there!
[edit] Šangaj
One of the fastest expanding parts of Batajnica, across the railway, concentrated along the Šangajska street (after the city of Shanghai in China) and some other adjoinging streets. It extends to the north east, toward the Busije and Ugrinovci (Šangajska itself extends into the road to Ugrinovci). Dozen of still nameless streets in the neighborhood were paved in 2006. It is purely residential area.
[edit] Crveni Barjak
The largest single local community within Batajnica (population of 11,129 in 2002), Crveni Barjak begins near the entrance into Batajnica, where the large interchange is located. It extends to the south, forming the future urban connection between Batajnica and Zemun Polje. Heating plant is also located in the neighborhood. Its name, crveni barjak, is Serbian for the "red banner".
[edit] References
- Mala Enciklopedija Prosveta, Third edition (1985); Prosveta; ISBN 86-07-00001-2
- Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6
[edit] External links
